Day 7: Chamberlain to Mitchell, SD

Mileage: 71 Miles
Temperature at start: 66
Temperature at finish:  92
Clear skys and light winds

The morning arrived with a glorious sunrise in Chamberlain. We had a buffet breakfast at the a restaurant on Main Street and then Erin and I were off to Mitchell - home of the world famous Corn Palace. The only real climb of the day was right off the bat - a two mile jaunt up the bluffs surrounding the Missouri and then head almost due east along country roads. The terrain was corn, corn, and more corn. It was very green though the area is currently suffering a drought.

Climbing out of Chamberlain

Still early on the 1st hill - can still wave!

With the short stage today there would be only one SAG at the halfway point so we both took two bottles. An interesting stop was in the town of Kimball. It is home to the Tractor Museum so we took a side trip to see the exhibits.

Erin,TJ, and I

I think they want to put her to work?

Inside the tractor museum

After the stop at the musem Erin and I rode quickly to the SAG stop to top off the bottles and refuel the motors a bit.

We made sure that when we left the SAG that we were with the group of Richard, Polly, and Mimi. Richard is a strong rider from New York that I rode with yesterday. Today with flat terrain and favorable winds we rode the last 36 miles in 1 hour and 45 minutes averaging a bit over 21 mph.

See, we actually stop at Stop Signs!

Paceline - Richard, Erin, Polly, Mimi, and I

We arrived in Mitchell at a little past 11:00 and rode over to the Corn Palace. It's an interesting building that was first built in 1892 and is currently on its third iteration. It actually has walls lined with different colored corn.

Erin and Karen Bauer from ABB

That's the Corn Palace in the background

Tomorow is the end our adventure. We have a 72 mile ride into Sioux Falls where we will say goodbye to all of our new friends and wish them safe journeys on the remainder of their ride across America.